


Of Chocolate and Tony Stark

by EndlessNepenthe



Series: We're Both a Little Broken, But Together We'll Fill In The Cracks [8]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Blood and Injury, Gen, Helpful Venom Symbiote (Marvel), Hurt Peter Parker, Protective Tony Stark, Sad Eddie Brock, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Venom Symbiote (Marvel) Likes Chocolate, Venom can literally be bribed with chocolate this adorable symbiote I swear, Venom is bad at threats, Worried Tony Stark, don't be sad Tony will fix it, please Tony would definitely parent everything he comes across, what why is that a tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-19
Updated: 2019-04-19
Packaged: 2020-01-16 15:04:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18523975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EndlessNepenthe/pseuds/EndlessNepenthe
Summary: "Who the hell are you.""Eddie.""Okay Eddie, tell that tHING to get out of my kid, or so help me—"





	Of Chocolate and Tony Stark

**Author's Note:**

> Okay this was supposed to end after Venom helps Peter but somehow it continued until Tony basically adopts Eddie like he's a stray dog lol oops I really don't know where this came from, I just wanted to write some funny Tony and Venom interactions
> 
> Eddie and Tony would get along like fish and water because they're literally the same (both self deprecating hard headed idiots who are always sad and deserve to be happy for once)

Tony jolts awake to something vibrating against his arm. Assuming that it would be his phone, Tony raises the arm to pat around the sofa cushion next to him, irritation rising with each passing second. _Let me sleep in peace, dammit._

It takes an eternity of 20 whole agonizing seconds for Tony to realize that the insistent vibrating was originating from something wrapped around his wrist— oh right, the watch, one half of the unique pair that Tony had personally created, every single tiny piece carefully assembled by his own hands. He’d spent a whole week meticulously planning out each detail that went into the creation of the two inconspicuous time telling devices, making absolutely sure that he included all the features he wanted — _needed_ — to, 30 consecutive hours of work to put them together, and another five anxiety filled hours of testing their limits and functions. When Tony had finally been satisfied, he’d saved the blueprints to his private folder of his most recent technological works (which included the Iron Spider and the current Mark of his own Iron Man armour), the one folder that he viewed at least once each day, editing out needless details and adding possible upgrades, constantly striving for higher safety and functionality.

Tony had then presented one of the watches to Peter as a gift, patiently explaining the panic button and the two different ways of removal — one was for daily unthreatening purposes, and the other was if Peter was ever forced to remove it himself under duress — while Peter had soaked in the information in wide eyed wonder, reverently promising that he would never dare to neglect Tony’s precious gift by not wearing it. Inwardly preening with delight, Tony had flippantly remarked _Great, because I made it pretty much everything proof. Remember, kiddo, you don’t know where it’s from because it was a gift, and_ only you _can take it off. Make sure you let me know if it does anything weird._ Peter had glowed with awed happiness, babbling _thank yous_ as Tony secured the ordinary looking black watch to Peter’s wrist.

Slapping blindly at the watch face with his other hand, Tony scrubs at his eyes with the heel of a palm. Thankfully, the thing stops vibrating. “FRI, wha’ ‘m I lookin’ at,” Tony slurs, voice a deep gravelly growl from sleep.

“Peter’s vitals have dropped—”

Tony doesn’t hear the rest of FRIDAY’s report, snapping upright in panic. His back creaks loudly in protest at the sudden sharp movement but Tony ignores it, leaping to his feet and immediately calling a suit with a gesture even as he struggles to focus his bleary eyes on the blue holograms floating in the air.

_Breathing, too fast and shallow. Pulse: Too weak, too quick. Blood pressure dropping rapidly —_

He knew those symptoms. They were indications of—  _bleeding out,_ Tony’s brain provides, infuriatingly clinical and calmly detached, a jarring contrast to his racing heart. _Kid’s bleeding out._

Pieces of bright gold and deep crimson fly at Tony, assembling rapidly into a shining shell. Still clouded by sleep, Tony stands frozen for a moment, the blue HUD display inside the helmet blinding his sensitive eyes.

_Need to go need to go need to go_

“I—”

“An alert has been sent to Dr. Helen Cho to prepare the Cradle,” FRIDAY quietly but firmly informs Tony, tone gently urging the billionaire onward.

Casting around for words, Tony nods his head multiple times in grateful agreement, forcing his numb feet to carry him towards the wall of giant windows. “Okay— track— watch— now,” he manages to mumble, not bothering to clear his throat even when his voice cracks horribly on the words.

Thankfully FRIDAY does most of the flying and navigating, Tony urgently growling _We had to be there_ yesterday, _FRI, faster, c’mon!_ FRIDAY pushes the suit as fast as it could possibly go without the risk of anything dangerous occuring, Tony aggressively wrestling for control when the destination is finally in sight, abruptly dropping the suit from the air like a shooting star. Iron Man lands hard on one knee in what had somehow been dubbed the _superhero landing,_ utterly and unapologetically destroying the cement near the center of the dark alleyway, the force of the impact rattling through Tony’s bones even with the protective armour. The suit straightens and smoothly splits open to release Tony, who stumbles over the edge of the crater he’d caused, eyes frantically searching in the dim lighting.

There’s a male figure crouched down next to a thinner body sprawled on the ground, and Tony’s panicked heart skips a beat — he’d recognize Peter anywhere.

“Hey,” Tony shouts, clearing the rough sleepy rumble from his voice before calling out again. “Hey!” This time he deliberately lowers his voice into a threatening snarl as he jogs over, the suit faithfully following behind. Tony skids to a stop next to the stranger and — he’s right, of course he is — Peter, gaze caught by movement; his eyes skim over the disturbingly large diagonal gash that ran from Peter’s belly up to just under his collarbone, instantly fixating on the black tar-like goo that slid onto Peter’s chest from the stranger’s outstretched hand, the gleaming inky substance seeming to soak into Peter’s skin, disappearing without a trace.

Whirling to face the stranger, Tony glares with murder in his eyes, hands closing into tight fists at his side. The Iron Man armour stands tall behind Tony, casting a cold blue light from its chest, all blank and intimidating in its gleaming glory.

“Wait wait wait he’s not hurting him,” the stranger blurts, slowly easing up from his crouch and raising his hands in a placating gesture.

“Who the hell are you,” Tony demands, narrowing his eyes.

“Eddie.”

“Okay _Eddie,_ tell that _THING_ to get out of my kid or so help me—” Tony pointedly jabs a finger down at Peter’s prone form on the ground. He does a dramatic double take when he notices Peter’s skin knitting itself together, mouth open as he gawks in stunned silence. Thin threads of shadow dart briefly from one side of the wound to the other like stitches, muscle and flesh chasing after in a morbid game of tag; within seconds, the wound closes itself under Tony’s incredulous gaze, leaving Peter’s skin perfectly smooth and unblemished. Besides Peter’s t shirt being slashed nearly in half and the alarming amount of blood soaking his clothes, the Peter bleeding out from a huge slice up his torso is gone like a terrible nightmare.

The stranger — _Eddie,_ Tony’s overwhelmed brain reminds him — hovers an expectant hand over Peter, the darkness eagerly looping tendrils around the hand and pressing against Eddie’s palm like an affectionate pet before seeping into him.

Before Tony could open his mouth to ask about the healing shadow blob, Peter is blinking soft round brown eyes up at him. Bending down, Tony offers a hand, firmly tugging Peter up to stand on his feet.

“Okayyy,” Tony stretches the end of the word in a lazy half-heartedly confused drawl, “I know you have a healing factor, but that was crazy.”

“Mr. Stark, Venom healed me! He's nice,” Peter chirps enthusiastically.

“Ve— Who now?”

Some of the weird tar-like inky stuff collects above one of Eddie's shoulders, shaping itself into a small head shape before separating in half like a Pacman, dangerously sharp huge teeth sprouting from nowhere, along with a pair of jagged cloudy white eyes and a _long_ red tongue. **“Hi,”** it greets in an otherworldly low growl.

Tony’s brain short circuits. Weird how he was fine with a sentient blob of darkness —  _just like Strange’s cape,_ Tony hisses to himself, somehow feeling the urge to defend himself to… himself? — but not if it could talk. “Uh,” Tony splutters, eyes darting from the head, to Eddie, to Peter, and back to the head. “You, you were...”

Venom grins, its mouth splitting up the sides of its head and revealing more shark-like teeth. It turns to face Peter. **“I like you, excellent body,”** Venom purrs.

“Thanks,” Peter laughs, light and carefree, standing up straighter next to Tony.

 **“But weird,”** Venom continues, sounding puzzled.

Eddie blinks, tilting his head to one side, as if he was listening to something Peter and Tony couldn’t hear. “...Bug?”

 **“Not normal,”** Venom replies out loud, still eyeing Peter.

Eddie squints at Peter with uncertain suspicion.

 **“Maybe you are the one that is not normal, Eddie,”** Venom muses. **“You are not as strong as he is.”**

“Eating tots and chocolate all day isn’t exactly healthy, V,” Eddie shoots back, rolling his eyes in exasperation.

**“See, Eddie? We need to balance our diet.”**

“For the last time, V, we are _not_ going to eat anyone.”

**“...Loser.”**

“You and me both, yeah.”

“Uh, not to interrupt your flirting, but we’ve got places to be. Thank you and all that, you know who to look for if you want the favour returned,” Tony cuts in, taking a step away and pulling Peter along by his arm. Peter obediently moves but stumbles, lurching to one side with a dazed expression. “Whoa, easy there kiddo. You okay?”

“He’ll be fine, he just needs to—” **“Eat!”** “—rest,” Eddie explains, turning to hiss _You’ll get your chocolate later, okay?_ to a petulant Venom on his shoulder.

“...What’s wrong with him? He’s not bleeding out internally, right,” Tony questions, slow anger beginning to simmer behind the confusion and concern.

“Nah. V takes the body’s resources to rebuild and repair, so he’s probably feeling a bit drained. Nothin’ a night of recharging and some food wouldn’t cure. And I mean _a ton_ of food.”

“Ah.” _How much food is “a ton” for someone with an enhanced metabolism? The kid eats “a ton” of food on a daily basis. Guess we’ll find out._

“Guess it’s not bad to be have a favour from _The_ Tony Stark,” Eddie laughs with a small smile.

**“Eddie, you know this person?”**

“Who _doesn’t_ know him? We saw him on T.V., V, remember?”

Venom contemplates the new information for a few seconds. **“Can he buy us tots, Eddie?”**

“He can probably buy all the tots _and_ chocolate in the world,” Eddie scoffs. “He’s _loaded.”_

Eyes widening, Venom turns to an amused Tony. **“Do that!”**

Tony smiles slyly, supporting a barely conscious Peter. “If that’s what you want.”

“Wait nonono, don’t listen to him,” Eddie splutters. “V thinks with his stomach — well, my stomach — and we can’t waste a favour from _Tony Stark_ on food, V!”

“You’re Eddie Brock.”

“Yeah, that’s ri— Wait, I never told you my last name?”

“Of course I’ve heard of the famous journalist who took down that... whatever Foundation. FRI, be a dear,” Tony prompts, gesturing to the empty space in front of him. Blinding blue holograms appear, Tony flicking through them with blatant disinterest and a mild hum. “Not doing so well these days, are we, Mr. Brock?”

Eddie’s eyes are wide as he gapes at all the details and articles about himself, practically his whole life’s story laid out before him in mirrored photos and backward words. Venom stretches curiously towards a photo of Eddie, making a confused sound when his head passes straight through the blue image.

“You’re good at what you do,” Tony hums, dismissively waving away the glowing holograms and restoring the darkness to the alley. “Pissing off people—” Eddie flinches. “—and exposing corporations. ‘Horrendously hot headed, excessively confident, never knows when to give up.’ Bet that sounds great on resumes,” Tony quips, and Eddie kicks at the ground, a muscle in his jaw jumping when he grits his teeth.

 **“Do not be mean to Eddie. I will eat you,”** Venom snarls.

“Ah ah! I’m talking, _V._ So, Eddie, you have a job?”

“You know I don’t,” Eddie grinds out. “You already know everything about me, don’t you, _Mr. Stark?”_

“So good at pushing people’s buttons,” Tony marvels. “You know what? Come with me.”

“...What?”

“You’re hired. You can live at the tower, it’s probably better than the tiny thing you have.”

_“What?”_

“Think I’ve got some good chocolate lying around somewhere. Anything else, you can order.”

 **“Good chocolate?”** Venom perks up, delighted. **“Eddie, let’s go, he’s nice!”**

Eddie blinks at Tony, jaw slack. “...Are you serious?”

“As a heart attack,” Tony smirks. “I know you and your friend have been engaging in some _nightly activities._ Great that you haven’t eaten that many people yet, really. What d’you say? Ditch the sad homeless life?”

“I’m not—”

“Yet.”

**“Eddie, chocolate!”**

Tony sees the hesitant hope blooming in Eddie’s eyes, the exhausted relief, the wary uncertainty.

“...What’s the catch?”

 _You’re a smart one,_ Tony nearly says, but holds his tongue. He knows — through personal experience; Tony has asked that exact same question many times to many different people — that this type of cautiousness stems directly from too many mistakes learned the hard way, too much pain and sorrow and regret. This sort of thing is not something to be be trifled with, not a joke to be made. And Tony feels something in him warm to be able to offer exactly what he’d always been praying to be offered whenever he asked that question.

“No such thing. Respect what I am offering you, maybe watch the kid when you go out on your nightly excursions, try not to eat people, live a happy and satisfied life? No real rules, honestly. I trust that you’re a nice guy, so I’m giving you this opportunity to live a life you’ll be proud of living. I’ve never done this before, so I don’t know, I’m completely winging this. No pressure, but I’m pretty sure someone is going to come check out the crater, and I need to put the kid to bed.”

Venom disappears, sinking into Eddie and leaving him standing alone, small and sad, like a lost child. “Why me,” Eddie whispers, absolutely bewildered.

“Why not,” Tony immediately returns without a single hint of hesitation.

“...Too good to be true,” Eddie murmurs.

“The odds of being able to hold a whole conversation with Tony Stark aren’t exactly high either,” Tony shrugs.

“I…”

“I have to hear you say _yes.”_ Tony’s voice is firm but warm, encouraging. “I mean, I can’t stop you from saying _no,_ but I have to tell you, I’ll be sad.” He turns down the corners of his lips in exaggerated sorrow, coaxing out an upward twitch of Eddie’s lips.

“...Yes...?”

“Mr. Brock, you’ll have to be more assertive than that,” Tony teases.

“...Yes.”

“Great,” Tony cheers, the armour behind him collapsing into pieces before constructing back into a suit with the billionaire inside. “I know you don’t like heights, but it’ll be quick. I won’t drop you,” Tony reassures, wrapping a metal arm around Peter and the other around Eddie.

Eddie manages not to shriek during the flight back to the tower, gasping breathlessly and wobbling around on shaky legs when they land on the balcony of the main floor.

Tony digs out the chocolate from a kitchen cupboard and Venom eagerly devours it with a happy, **“Eddie, this is delicious!”** Cradling Peter like a large child, Tony patiently tells Eddie about the main floor and the guest floor directly above — “I’ll make you a floor later, but you can take a room on the guest floor for now, they all have their own connected bathrooms and walk in closets, everything” — before introducing FRIDAY.

“There’s a lady in the ceiling...?”

“FRIDAY’s my AI, she’s not a person. Oh, FRI, place an order for more of that chocolate, send it up here by tomorrow morning.”

_“Certainly, boss.”_

“We can do the grand tour and all that tomorrow, I’m sure we all need some shut eye. Tell FRI if you need anything at all, and... Yeah, I think that’s it. You can wake up whenever you want to, but breakfast usually happens some time between 8 to 10 AM — you can get FRI to wake you up if you want to join us for a huge breakfast tomorrow. I hope, for the both of us, that I’m not wrong about you. See you tomorrow, Eddie and Venom.”


End file.
